Month: April 2019

The Butler County Coroner has identified the four people found dead in West Chester, Ohio, Sunday night. Those killed include Hakiakat Singh Pannag, 59; Parmjit Kaur, 62; Amarjit Kaur, 58; and Shalinderjit Kaur, 39. Hakiakat Pannag and Parmjit Kaur were husband and wife. Shalinderjit Kaur was their daughter. Amarjit Kaur was Hakiakat Singh Pannag’s sister-in-law. A motive behind the slayings remains unclear, and investigators have not revealed any suspect information. An Indian national is among the four dead in the mass shooting, Chowkidar Sushma Swaraj said. Swaraj, minister of external affairs for the government of India, said her office was informed that one of the four people killed Sunday night in West Chester was visiting the United States, while the three others were of Indian origin. Swaraj added that an Indian ambassador confirmed that the matter is not being investigated as a hate crime. It was not clear which individual was the Indian national.On Tuesday afternoon, a forensic dive team scoured the lake behind the West Chester apartment where the four were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds.The shooting took place inside an apartment on Wyndree Drive, police said.In a 911 call released by police, a family member told a dispatcher he came home to find his wife and three other family members bleeding.”My wife and my family are bleeding … they’re on the ground and they’re bleeding,” the caller said to the dispatcher.Police confirmed the caller was a family member who discovered the victims. The caller was not taken into custody, police said.Jasminder Singh said the four were very involved in the Sikh community.Singh is still thinking about the conversation he had with a man just a few hours before the man became one of four dead.”I met him yesterday in temple. He was here,” Singh said from inside the Sikh temple on Tylerville Road.”It’s sad, very sad. Whatever happened, we lost four people,” Singh said.Singh said the victims were the man he knows, the man’s daughter, his wife and her sister. The victim Singh spoke to was among the first people he met when he came to the area 12 years ago.”The best I know about him, he’s a very good friend,” Singh said.Police said it does not appear that the shooter is among the dead or that anyone returned fire. No suspects or persons of interest have been named.Police said children do live in the home, but weren’t there at the time of the shooting and are currently with other family members.Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call West Chester police.

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio —

The Butler County Coroner has identified the four people found dead in West Chester, Ohio, Sunday night.

A motive behind the slayings remains unclear, and investigators have not revealed any suspect information.

An Indian national is among the four dead in the mass shooting, Chowkidar Sushma Swaraj said. Swaraj, minister of external affairs for the government of India, said her office was informed that one of the four people killed Sunday night in West Chester was visiting the United States, while the three others were of Indian origin.

Swaraj added that an Indian ambassador confirmed that the matter is not being investigated as a hate crime.

It was not clear which individual was the Indian national.

On Tuesday afternoon, a forensic dive team scoured the lake behind the West Chester apartment where the four were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds.

The shooting took place inside an apartment on Wyndree Drive, police said.

In a 911 call released by police, a family member told a dispatcher he came home to find his wife and three other family members bleeding.

“My wife and my family are bleeding … they’re on the ground and they’re bleeding,” the caller said to the dispatcher.

Police confirmed the caller was a family member who discovered the victims. The caller was not taken into custody, police said.

Jasminder Singh said the four were very involved in the Sikh community.

Singh is still thinking about the conversation he had with a man just a few hours before the man became one of four dead.

“I met him yesterday in temple. He was here,” Singh said from inside the Sikh temple on Tylerville Road.

“It’s sad, very sad. Whatever happened, we lost four people,” Singh said.

Singh said the victims were the man he knows, the man’s daughter, his wife and her sister.

The victim Singh spoke to was among the first people he met when he came to the area 12 years ago.

“The best I know about him, he’s a very good friend,” Singh said.

Police said it does not appear that the shooter is among the dead or that anyone returned fire. No suspects or persons of interest have been named.

Police said children do live in the home, but weren’t there at the time of the shooting and are currently with other family members.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call West Chester police.

Attorneys for Jarrod Ramos, accused of killing five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., said Monday, April 29, 2019, he is pleading not criminally responsible in an insanity defense. (AP/AP) Lynh Bui

Reporter focusing on public safety and criminal justice

April 30 at 12:06 PM

The Maryland man charged in the Capital Gazette newspaper shooting that left five staff members dead has entered a plea of not criminally responsible to all charges in the case, citing a “mental disorder” that prevented him from conforming to the law.

Public defenders representing Jarrod Ramos did not detail the nature of the mental health issues they believe are involved but said that he “lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct,” according to court filings submitted Monday.

The plea comes after attorneys have spent months sparring over whether prosecutors have provided the defense team enough details about the 23 counts Ramos faces.

Ramos, 39, of Laurel, has been charged with first-degree murder assault and other offenses in the June 28, 2018 mass shooting.

Ramos barricaded the back doors of the office, employed smoke grenades and planned the attack in the midst of a long-standing grudge with the daily newspaper, prosecutors said. Ramos began threatening the newspaper in letters and social media after it published a column about him pleading guilty to harassing a former high school classmate through social media, police and prosecutors said.

An American flag is placed next to markers representing the people killed in a newsroom shooting, at a makeshift memorial at the scene outside the office building housing The Capital Gazette. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Ramos’s trial is scheduled to begin in November and is expected to last two weeks.

A prayer service is held at the Sikh gurdwara in West Chester on Monday, April 29, 2019, for four members who were found dead in their West Chester apartment on Sunday.
Albert Cesare, acesare@enquirer.com

WEST CHESTER TWP. – It had been a long day. And by the time Jasminder Singh finally sat down on the basement floor, most people had left.

The worshippers and the news crews.

After a prayer service on Monday, where the message was about trusting God even though four people from the same family had been shot and killed a mile away, Singh stretched his legs. He looked down the white wall he sat against and pointed.

That’s where he normally sits. And that’s where the 46-year-old sat on Sunday morning with Hakikat Singh Panag, one of the first friends he made when he moved from Kentucky to West Chester Township 11 years ago.

On most Sundays, before the Sikh place of worship fills with as many as 700 people, Singh would sit with Panag in the basement and drink tea. On this Sunday, they talked about work.

More: Religious leader shares names of family killed in West Chester, leads prayer service for community

“He seemed happy,” Singh told The Enquirer.

Like he usually does, Singh arrived early that day because he had work to do. He is the executive committee president of the Guru Nanak Society of Greater Cincinnati.

He never thought part of his work would include answering questions about his dead friend. He never thought he would be asked why he thought someone would kill Panag, his wife, daughter and sister-in-law.

That changed on Sunday night when a man believed to be Panag’s son-in-law returned to his West Chester Township home and found much of his family on the floor bleeding to death. The man called 911, yelled for help and banged on his neighbor’s door at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex.

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The 911 call from a man who said his wife, mother, father and aunt were all killed a West Chester apartment complex Sunday, April 28, 2019.
Provided/West Chester Police Department

West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog confirmed the caller was related to the victims and also lived at the residence. He said the man has spoken to investigators and is not in custody. Police did not confirm the victims’ identities in a news conference Monday morning.

More: Ohio’s first mass shooting for 2019? 4 killed in West Chester

Singh identified the other victims as Panag’s wife Paramjit Kaur, his adult daughter Shalinder Kaur and his sister-in-law Amarjit Kaur. Singh said Panag had three grandchildren who lived at the apartment, but they were not home at the time.

Herzog said it was too early to discuss a motive and said police are still searching for a suspect.

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Crime scene tape surrounds an apartment building Monday, April 29, 2019, after four relatives were found dead Sunday night at Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex. (Photo: Cara Owsley/The Enquirer)

…

It’s almost 9 p.m. Monday now.

The media had arrived more than three hours ago for the religious service. But journalists first started showing up on Tylersville Road on Monday morning when reports circulated about where the victims of Ohio’s first mass shooting of 2019 worshipped.

In one day, Singh says he spoke to at least 20 different reporters – he couldn’t understand why when Cincinnati only has four local television news stations. Still, he invited them all inside for prayer service and made sure when the cameras started rolling there was enough room left for worshippers to walk downstairs to get food.

At the service, there was singing and praying and music. Afterward, there was talk about shock and sadness. There were also children playing.

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Prayer service at the Guru Nanak Society of Greater Cincinnati in West Chester for a prayer service Monday, April 29, 2019. A member of the Sikh community attended prayer service there yesterday was found dead later that night with three other family members at their apartment in West Chester. Jasminder Singh, president of the executive committee of Guru Nanak Society said he talked with Hakikat Singh Panag on Sunday at prayer service and that Panag was one of the people found dead. The police have not released the name of the victims. (Photo: Cara Owsley/The Enquirer)

Singh finished his meal, described as Indian comfort food. He said if Panag was a good person, then his wife and his daughter were even better. But he didn’t know how to get that message across.

And he had run out of things to say.

Because he had questions, too. He wanted to know what happened, too. But he was the person fielding questions now.

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Jasminder Singh, president of the executive committee of Guru Nanak Society of Greater Cincinnati West Chester said one of the people found dead Sunday night was Hakikat Singh Panag, whom he knew for 11 years. Police have not confirmed Panag’s name. Four people were found dead at Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex, according to police. Photo shot Monday, April 29, 2019. (Photo: Cara Owsley/The Enquirer)

Singh’s phone rang, and it was past 9 p.m. now. The basement had mostly emptied when a man sitting next to Singh said he worked with Panag at a gas station about 10 years ago. He respected him, but the two lost touch recently.

While Singh chose to sit somewhere new because he didn’t want to be without his friend – because it hurt too much to picture Panag’s seemingly happy face from the day before his death – this man couldn’t remember the last time he saw Panag.

And that hurt, too. Because he knows he’ll never see him again.

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The money would go to nonprofit organizations including religious congregations, private and nonprofit schools, LGBTQ organizations, and women’s health groups to pay for reinforced doors and gates, high intensity lighting and alarms, security guards and other protective measures.

The San Diego synagogue shooter was self-radicalized on a right-wing message board on the website 8chan, posting before he went on his rampage a thank-you to the board’s users: “What I’ve learned here is priceless.”

The attack, which killed one and injured three, came six months to the day after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11. The San Diego shooter declared the Pittsburgh shooter — also a creature of fringe internet culture — one of his heroes.

Anti-Semitism is a millennia-old phenomenon, and anti-Jewish shootings in the US aren’t new, either (several occurred while George W. Bush and Barack Obama were president).

What’s disturbing about the latest spate of violence is the common thread of white-nationalist ideology, propagated and readily available on the internet and developing its own twisted culture of mass shootings.

What happened two decades ago with the 1999 Columbine mass shooting, which created the predicate for years of copycat killers, each soaked in the iconography of Columbine and seeking their own moment of notoriety, is being replicated by a loose collection of sick racists.

The San Diego shooter attested to how quickly he had been prepped for mass murder by 8chan, where white nationalists push one another to undertake acts of violence that they call “real-life effort-posting.” He said he never could have imagined killing even a few months ago and that he planned the attack in four weeks.

He explained that he was ­inspired by the Christchurch mosque shooter, who killed 50 innocents in New Zealand and came from the same white-nationalist 8chan sewer.

The San Diego shooter aped his hero by also posting a similarly long manifesto to the site and attempting to livestream his crime.

Today’s internet anti-Semitism is based on very old lies, at the bottom of which is the belief that the Jews are an alien, parasitic force conspiring against their host, in this case supposedly the white race.

The San Diego shooter even cited a notorious lie dating from the 15th century that Jews had used the blood of a Christian boy to bake their Passover matzohs.

What the 8chan haters add to the ancient anti-Semitic oeuvre is their very internet in-jokes and memes, underscoring their rancid nihilism.

Because everything must be about President Trump, the left blames him for Pittsburgh and San Diego. His critics point to his shabby response to Charlottesville (Trump actually did condemn the white nationalists and neo-Nazis, but posited “fine people” on their side who didn’t exist). Yet, Trump was explicitly ­rejected by the San Diego and Pittsburgh shooters, precisely ­because he’s so pro-Israel.

His State of the Union Address this year was notably philo-Semitic. “We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed,” he said while recognizing a hero of the Pittsburgh massacre. “With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs.”

At the same time an extreme fringe on the right marinates in its own malice, a different sort of anti-Semitism, rooted in hatred for Israel, is getting normalized on the Left.

It can be seen in the refusal of House Democrats to forthrightly condemn Rep. Ilan Omar for her anti-Semitic tropes and in the astonishing publication by the international edition of The New York Times of a political cartoon worthy of Der Sturmer.

It’s not the 1930s again, but the elite atmosphere is becoming more hostile to Israel than it has been for many decades, and the physical threat to Jews is growing. According to news reports, the San Diego shooting might have been much worse if the Poway Chabad congregation hadn’t ­recently practiced shooter drills, and other synagogues will have to take note.

If the freaks on 8chan have anything to say about it, there will be a next time.

Over the weekend, a 19-year-old gunman shot and killed a congregant celebrating Passover at Chabad of Poway Synagogue in southern California. Others were injured. The incident is being labeled by officials as a hate crime.

Joining Boston Public Radio with their analysis were Reverend Irene Monroe and Reverend Emmett Price. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is a Professor of Worship, Church & Culture and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Price said that while the heartache is fresh each time a mass shooting occurs, these incidents follow a pattern of white supremacist violence.

“The context is: As much as we are ripped to the core from all this bloodshed and this horrific activity in sacred spaces, the reality is that white supremacy and white nationalism are rising,” Price said.

“These things have been happening for a long time, and we have done an injustice of trying to isolate them as situations where, ‘This is a one-off, this is an isolated incident,’ where these things continue to happen,” Price said.

Monroe criticized elected officials, including President Donald Trump, for not fully condemning the white nationalist worldview at the root of such attacks.

“When you ask the president, ‘Do you think there’s a problem here with white nationalism, not just with the country but across the globe?’ and he says, ‘No, not really, just a few people,’ or when you have something like Charlottesville and you do this moral equivalent comparing the counter-protestors to neo-Nazis, it signals,” Monroe said, referring to the president’s comments after a recent mass shooting in New Zealand and his comments after a protester was killed at a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

“It gives a signal, and it gives permission for white nationalists to come out,” Monroe continued.

Results of the investigation into the Henry Pratt mass shooting in Aurora this past February have found that all law enforcement officers involved in the shooting response were justified in firing their weapons at offender Gary Martin, who was shot and killed by police after killing five others and injuring a sixth.

VIEW THE FULL DOCUMENT, HERE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED:

Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon and The Kane County Major Crimes Task Force released the conclusion on Monday morning, which additionally gives the most detailed timeline of the shooting to date.

McMahon’s conclusion states justification in the police response in that Martin committed multiple acts of First Degree Murder and was still armed with a firearm and ammunition for the weapon when authorities shot him, February 15th.

The report indicates that Martin was involved in a series of shootouts with law enforcement and that a sniper from an elevated area shot Martin twice. Martin’s autopsy revealed he sustained six gunshot wounds in total.

It was found that Martin positioned himself in the northwest corner of the building, sitting in a chair, providing cover for himself where he used a mirror to monitor the advance of police on his position.

McMahon says, “as the police came into his line of fire, the offender’s course of action was to shoot at the police with his handgun. This action forced the police to retreat to avoid being struck by the offender’s gunfire.”

McMahon says Martin fired multiple gunshots at police officers and SWAT teams, “without provocation or legal justification and did not respond to verbal commands to surrender.”

The conclusion additionally states that, “all officers at the scene of this incident had the reasonable belief that the deadly force they employed was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to themselves and other individuals.”

Martin opened fire on several employees amid a termination. Surveillance indicates it is believed he had a weapon on him when he came to work and did not return to his vehicle to retrieve it.

Martin had apparently spoken to a few employees, including a conversation with one employee, threatening a shooting and to shoot police with the inclination that he may be fired for a safety violation from the previous day. The employee did not report the statement being that Martin apparently often made “off the wall” statements and the employee was not concerned.

Martin also apparently had exchanged words with one of the victims, Vicente Juarez, regarding the safety incident.

Juarez of Oswego, Josh Pinkard of Oswego, Trevor Wehner of Sheridan, Russell Beyer of Yorkville, and Clayton Parks of Elgin were all killed. Five Aurora Police officers were also shot.

POWAY, Calif. (AP) — Eight-year-old Noya Dahan had finished praying and gone to play with other children at her Southern California synagogue when gunshots rang out. Her uncle grabbed her and the other children, leading them outside to safety as her leg bled from a shrapnel wound.

“I was scared, really, really scared,” said Noya, recalling how the group of children cried out of fear after a gunman entered Chabad of Poway on Saturday morning and started shooting. “I didn’t see my dad. I thought he was dead.”

The onslaught on the last day of Passover, a Jewish holiday celebrating freedom, wounded Dahan, her uncle Almog Peretz and the congregation’s rabbi. The attack killed beloved congregant Lori Kaye, 60.

Authorities said the 19-year-old gunman opened fire as about 100 people were worshipping exactly six months after a mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Rabbi Yishoel Goldstein said he was preparing for a service and heard a loud sound, turned around and a saw a young man wearing sunglasses standing in front of him with a rifle.

“I couldn’t see his eyes. I couldn’t see his soul,” Goldstein said. He raised his hands and lost one of his fingers in the shooting.

And then, Goldstein said, “miraculously the gun jammed.”

In the moments that followed, Goldstein said he wrapped his bloodied hand in a prayer shawl and addressed congregants gathered outside the building, vowing to stay strong in the face of the deadly attack targeting his community.

“We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall. We will not let anyone take us down. Terrorism like this will not take us down,” Goldstein recalled telling the community.

Authorities said suspect John T. Earnest, who had no previous contact with law enforcement, may face a hate crime charge in addition to homicide charges when he’s arraigned later this week. He was being held without bail, and it was unclear if he had an attorney.

Police searched Earnest’s house and said he was also being investigated in connection with an arson attack on a mosque in nearby Escondido, California, on March 24.

There were indications an AR-type assault weapon might have malfunctioned after the gunman fired numerous rounds inside, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said. An off-duty Border Patrol agent fired at the shooter as he fled, missing him but striking the getaway vehicle, the sheriff said.

Shortly after fleeing, Earnest called 911 to report the shooting, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said. When an officer reached him on a roadway, “the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody,” he said.

Goldstein described Kaye as a pioneering founding member of the congregation and said he was heartbroken by her death. He said the attack could have harmed many more people had the shooter turned toward the sanctuary where so many were praying.

“Lori took the bullet for all of us,” the rabbi said, his hands wrapped in bandages. “She didn’t deserve to die.”

He said that Kaye’s physician husband was called to tend to a wounded worshipper and fainted when he realized it was his wife.

Friends described Kaye as giving, warm and attentive to community members on their birthdays and when they were sick. A wife and mother, she loved gardening and made delicious challah for her family and friends, said Roneet Lev, 55.

When the gunfire erupted, another worshipper, Shimon Abitbul, said he immediately placed his 2-year-old grandson on the floor and waited for a break in the shooting to grab the boy and sprint away.

Abitbul, who was visiting from Israel and staying with his daughter and her family in Southern California, said he was still coming to grips with the carnage.

“All of us are human beings,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are Jews or Christians or Muslims.”

Peretz, who was wounded in the leg, said he turned around after hearing gunfire and saw the shooter standing by the door. He grabbed his niece by the hand and carried out another child.

He then saw a group of children and got them running, “I tell them, ‘go this way, go this way,” said Peretz, who is visiting from Israel.

Gore said authorities were reviewing Earnest’s social media posts, including what he described as a “manifesto.” There was no known threat after Earnest was arrested, but authorities boosted patrols at places of worship Saturday and again on Sunday as a precaution, police said.

A person identifying himself as John Earnest posted an anti-Jewish screed online about an hour before the attack. The poster described himself as a nursing school student and praised the suspects accused of carrying out deadly attacks on mosques in New Zealand last month that killed 50 and at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, in which 11 people were killed.

“It was a hate crime, no doubt about it,” national security adviser John Bolton said on “Fox News Sunday.” He said investigators have not seen any connection between the suspect and other extremist groups.

California State University, San Marcos, confirmed that Earnest was a student who was on the dean’s list and said the school was “dismayed and disheartened” that he was suspected in “this despicable act.”

Goldstein said President Donald Trump called him to share condolences on behalf of the American people.

The White House acknowledged the call. “The President expressed his love for the Jewish people and the entire community of Poway,” Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.

On Sunday night, hundreds of people gathered at a park for a vigil to honor the victims.

People at the community park near Chabad synagogue in Poway held candles and listened to prayer in Hebrew. Leaders asked community members to do acts of kindness to remember Kaye.

Poway Mayor Steve Vaus said he would stand with the community, and Rabbi Goldstein said seeing the crowd come together provided consolation.

“What happened to us, happened to all of us,” Goldstein said.

___

Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in Poway and Daisy Nguyen in San Francisco contributed to this report.

He said he held off saying more in March since he “didn’t want to give the terrorist more attention” or to “make it about me.” Even so, he didn’t want “hateful acts” to overwhelm the “amazing things” done in his name.

The internet celebrity also acknowledged that two diss songs attacking T-Series, his rival for the most number of YouTube subscribers, had offended others. He said they were “not meant to be taken seriously” and that he wanted to stop the “negative rhetoric.”

PewDiePie’s request echoes an all-too-familiar pattern on the internet: he’s trying to contain a relatively innocent meme co-opted for other, sometimes malicious purposes. And like in those cases, there’s not much the originator can do to officially stop it. However, PewDiePie has the luxury of a massive audience for his thoughts. He may stand a better chance than others in trying to disassociate himself from hateful acts.

The semi-automatic rifle used in the Dawson College shootings can be bought at a hunting and fishing mega-store in Dartmouth, despite a coroner’s report more than a decade ago recommending the firearm be banned.

The non-restricted Beretta Cx4 Storm, which can be purchased by any Canadian with a gun licence, was recently advertised in a Bass Pro Shops flyer distributed across Halifax Regional Municipality.

The rifle was used by Kimveer Gill to kill Anastasia De Sousa and wound 16 people at Dawson College in Montreal on Sept. 13, 2006.

Gill used a 10-cartridge magazine. Under Canadian law, the maximum capacity of magazines designed for semi-automatic rifles is five cartridges.

“In a strange twist of logic, the 10-cartridge magazine sold for the Beretta pistol is also perfectly suited to the Cx4 Storm rifle and can be used for the latter in all legality,” Quebec coroner Jacques Ramsay wrote in his 2008 report.

“The 10-bullet magazine should either be allowed or banned outright,” wrote Ramsay.

“A five-bullet magazine would have theoretically resulted in fewer victims.”

But Andrea Gordon, a Halifax-area resident, said the semi-automatic rifle shouldn’t be accessible to the public in the first place.

Less than a year ago, Gordon said, she was in an abusive relationship and found a semi-automatic rifle in the basement. The firearm belonged to her now-former partner, who was a hunter.

“I just wasn’t comfortable knowing there was a killing machine like that in my house,” Gordon said.

Shortly after, she ended the relationship and moved out of the house.

“I had resources and stuff like that, but there’s a lot of people in this world that don’t,” she said.

“I find it terrifying that somebody else could be in that situation and that their partner could drive on down and buy (something) that could potentially hurt them and a whole bunch of other people for no good reason.”

Gordon said she understands hunters having access to certain firearms but not semi-automatic rifles.

“When you can shoot 20 times at once, there’s no value in that for people,” she said.

“Taking that chance of that happening one time in one school, or one time in one church, I just don’t think anybody’s civil rights are worth it.”

The Beretta Cx4 is used by “several police agencies across the U.S.,” states Beretta’s website.

“Whether you use it for home defence, varminting, competition or training, the Cx4 will deliver what it promises.”

Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, says the Beretta Cx4 Storm is “a very weak firearm.”

“The fact that a firearm is built to military specifications doesn’t make it deadlier. It makes it proper,” Bernardo said.

“The Cx4 is chambered for the 9mm handgun cartridge, and contrary to what Hollywood would love you to believe, handguns are not very powerful.”

A 9mm puts out about 350 foot-pounds of energy, while an average deer rifle puts out about 2,200 foot-pounds, he said.

The Beretta Cx4 has a different, “racy” look from a common hunting gun because it was designed by Ferrari, Bernardo said.

“The bottom line here is it’s honestly not much different from your average farm kid’s .22,” he said.